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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Anna Rosso (University of Milan and Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, I use a unique individual-level pre-migration labour market dataset for Poland, which provides also emigrant final destination, to examine emigrant selection into two major destination countries, the United Kingdom and Germany. Specifically, within a simple theoretical framework, I compare pre-migration observable and unobservable characteristics of emigrants with those of non-emigrants in Poland and test for selection by estimating skill price differences between Poland and the destination based on detailed labour market data for all three countries. I contribute to the migrant selection literature by providing additional evidence on how migrants react to both labour market differences and different migration policies across countries. |
| Keywords: | International migration, selection, skill prices, EU enlargement, inequality |
| JEL: | F22 J61 O15 D33 |
| Date: | 2018–09–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csl:devewp:440&r=mig |
| By: | Francesco Fasani (Queen Mary University of London) |
| Abstract: | Do general amnesty programs lead to reductions in the crime rate among immigrants? We answer this question by exploiting cross-sectional and time variation in the number of immigrants legalized generated by the enactment of repeated amnesty programs between 1990 and 2005 in Italy. We address the potential endogeneity of the "legalization treatment" by instrumenting the actual number of legalized immigrants with alternative predicted measures based on past amnesty applications patterns and residential choices of documented and undocumented immigrants. We find that, in the year following an amnesty, regions in which a higher share of immigrants obtained legal status experienced a greater decline in non-EU immigrant crime rates, relative to other regions. The effect is statistically significant but relatively small and not persistent. In further results, we fail to find any evidence of substitution in the criminal market from other population groups - namely, EU immigrants and Italian citizens - and we observe a small and not persistent reduction in total offenses. |
| Keywords: | illegal migration, legalization, migration policy |
| JEL: | F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2018–09–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qmw:qmwecw:867&r=mig |
| By: | Drivas, Kyriakos; Economidou, Claire; Karamanis, Dimitris; Sanders, Mark |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the drivers of highly skilled migrants across space as well as their impact on local innovation activity. We focus on patent inventors, a specific typology of skilled and innovative individuals who are deeply involved in the production of innovation and are important vehicle of knowledge circulation. Employing patent data to track their moves, we use a gravity model to examine whether geographic, technological and cultural proximities between countries and country level factors and policies shape the flows of these talented individuals. As a comparison, in the same framework, we also analyze the flows of non-inventor migrants. Our evidence shows that proximity matters for migration. Gravity emerges everywhere; in the mobility of inventor and non-inventor migrant workers; the former, however, are less geographically restricted. Similarity in technological production structure between countries is the main driver of inventor moves - especially for inventors from the most innovative countries, whereas cultural proximity matters more for non-inventor migrants. Attractive country features are the quality of institutions and job opportunities at the destination as well as trade linkages between origin and destination country. Finally, the knowledge and skills that move with the inventors have an important positive impact on local innovation production. |
| Keywords: | inventor mobility, patents, migration, gravity, proximity |
| JEL: | J61 O31 O33 O52 |
| Date: | 2018–09–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:88883&r=mig |
| By: | Olayiwola Oladiran; Anupam Nanda; Stanimira Milcheva |
| Abstract: | Recent projections suggest that despite Brexit, immigration to the UK is expected to increase which may further change the UK housing market trends.A key housing market dynamic caused by net migration in Britain is the variation in housing tenure trends for natives and non-natives which further influences housing demand. Anecdotal evidence reveals that the proportion of homeowners is much higher for natives than for non-natives, suggesting that an increase in migration may lead to growth in the demand on the rental market at a higher rate than the sales market. Research further suggests that it may be worthy to analyse second-generation migrants as a separate cohort from first-generation migrants, and natives. However, there is an absence of empirical evidence in this regard in Britain. Classical models analyse housing tenure choices in the context of the lifecycle position of the family head. We however provide evidence that while the natural lifecycle largely influences the housing tenure choice of natives and second-generation migrants, the migration lifecycle may be a stronger predictor of housing tenure choices for first-generation migrants. Research further reveals that generational factors, life pathways of natives and non-natives, migration-related factors and factors relating to the destination countries (among other factors) may also be responsible for the variation in housing tenure. While similar studies in the UK also account for migration era, racial and ethnic variation in housing tenure, they do not differentiate between natives and non-natives. We therefore posit that the year of entry, as well as racial and ethnic variations, may be an insufficient basis of analysis, and there may be deeper underlying factors, particularly native/non-native dichotomy. Our results indicate that the migration lifecycle may be the key predictor of housing tenure choices for first-generation migrants. We also observe that the effects of the natural lifecycle, individual, demographic, household and socioeconomic factors vary for natives, first-generation and second-generation migrants. Our results further reveal that second-generation migrants in Britain appear to have distinct housing tenure patterns, different from natives and first-generation migrants; and natives and non-natives housing tenure patterns differ in London, compared to the general British population. |
| Keywords: | Housing demand; housing tenure; Lifecycle; Migration |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2018–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2018_166&r=mig |
| By: | Regina T. Riphahn; Salwan Saif |
| Abstract: | Naturalization may be a relevant policy instrument affecting immigrant integration in host-country labor markets. We study the effect of naturalization on labor market outcomes of immigrants in Germany. We apply recent survey data and exploit a reform of naturalization rules in an instrumental variable estimation. In our sample of recent immigrants, linear regression yields positive correlations between naturalization and beneficial labor market outcomes. Once we account for the endogeneity of naturalization most coefficients decline in magnitude and lose statistical significance: male immigrants' labor market outcomes do not benefit significantly from naturalization. Naturalization reduces the risks of unemployment and welfare dependence for female immigrants. For males and females, the propensity to hold a permanent contract increase as a consequence of naturalization. The results are robust to modifications of samples and the instrument. |
| Keywords: | citizenship, migration, naturalization, labor market outcomes, instrumental variables |
| JEL: | J61 J15 C26 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7217&r=mig |
| By: | Matteo Gamalerio |
| Abstract: | Do electoral incentives affect immigration policies? I study this question in the setting of Italian municipalities making decisions about the reception of refugees. The localized control of the reception policy (SPRAR), combined with the exogenous timing of policy decisions and staggered elections, enables me to study the effect of electoral incentives on the reception of refugees. Although municipalities receive fiscal grants for hosting refugees, electoral incentives reduce the probability of opening a refugee centre by 24 per cent. The effect is driven by voters' misperception of immigrants and by extreme-right political preferences. The results explain why is difficult to reach an equal redistribution of refugees across and within countries. |
| Keywords: | migration, reception of refugees, electoral incentives, fiscal grants |
| JEL: | R23 J61 D72 C23 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7212&r=mig |
| By: | Peter Huber (WIFO); Klaus Nowotny (WIFO) |
| Abstract: | We use individual level data covering 30 mostly post-communist and developing countries which account for over a fifth of the worldwide immigrant stock to assess the impact of risk aversion on the willingness to migrate. Consistent with theories of individual level migration decisions, risk aversion has a statistically significant negative impact on both the willingness to migrate within countries as well as abroad. This applies to virtually all countries considered and is robust across various specifications, to alternative measures of risk aversion and to different measures of the willingness to migrate. Differences in the impact of risk aversion on the willingness to migrate are also positively correlated to measures of sending country risks and the missing variable bias of omitting risk aversion from migration regressions is substantial. |
| Keywords: | Migration intentions, Risk Aversion, Former Communist Countries |
| Date: | 2018–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2018:i:569&r=mig |
| By: | Ruxanda Berlinschi; Jan Fidrmuc |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes a theory of migration decisions in which cultural traits play a role. Individuals are assumed to value comfort (high wages) and conformity (interactions with individuals who share similar world views). Regions are assumed to differ economically (average wages) and culturally (average world views and their diversity). The model shows that self-selection of inter-regional migrants on world views is non-monotonic if one region is more diverse than the other, and it weakens with economic gaps between regions. This nonmonoticity can lead to a dichotomy of outcomes: culturally diverse regions become even more diverse because of migration, while culturally homogeneous regions become even more homogeneous. Consequently, Tieboutian sorting (people moving to the region in which world views are closer to theirs) only holds when regions have similar wages and diversity of world views. |
| Keywords: | Migration; self-selection; culture; diversity |
| JEL: | A13 F22 J61 Z1 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lic:licosd:40518&r=mig |
| By: | Sumit S. Deole |
| Abstract: | In 2011, German police accidentally stumbled upon a previously unknown right-wing extremist group called the National Socialist Underground (NSU). Further investigations implicated the group in previously unexplained murders of mostly ethnically Turkish individuals and in other crimes targeting Islamic immigrants in Germany. Using German Socioeconomic Panel (SOEP) data, this paper offers the first evidence that the 2011 revelations of the NSU crimes resulted in an increase in perceived fears of xenophobic hostility among NSU’s targeted groups. This serves as an indication of the minority’s perceived maltreatment by German institutions while investigating the NSU crimes. The results further show that the revelations significantly reinforced a feeling of estrangement among Turks, who were now less likely to self-identify as Germans and more likely to see themselves as foreigners; they, therefore, tended to bond more strongly with the ethos of their country of origin. The results also demonstrate that Turks reported a substantial decrease in their health satisfaction and subjective wellbeing. In conclusion, the paper underlines the pertinence of judicial efficacy over rightwing crimes for assimilation and welfare of immigrants. |
| Keywords: | rightwing crimes, immigration, delayed justice, social assimilation |
| JEL: | D63 F22 J15 Z10 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7235&r=mig |
| By: | Luc Christiaensen; Joachim De Weerdt; Ravi Kanbur |
| Abstract: | In an economy with migration, poverty changes are composed of a number of forces, including the income gains and losses realized by the various migration streams. We present a simple but powerful decomposition methodology that uses panel data to measure the contributions of different migration streams to overall poverty change. An application to Tanzania shows the new insights that are provided—in particular on the role of migration to secondary towns in poverty reduction. |
| Keywords: | Panel data, household surveys, internal migration, urbanization, poverty reduction, decomposable poverty indices |
| JEL: | J61 O15 O55 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lic:licosd:40618&r=mig |